Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Bridges Collective’s Under An Eastern Sky is an sonic painting of scenes from the beautiful vast land of China. From majestic rivers to tranquil lakes, grand military generals to quiet domestic fishermen, this concert seeks to portray snapshots from a land of great contradictions.
 
Featuring multiple award-winning Lanzhou-born Mindy Meng Wang on the guzheng, Artistic Director Brenna Wee on piano and Taryn Richards on the flute, the trio will present arrangements of traditional Chinese folk songs from North-Western, Middle-Eastern, South and South-Eastern China.

They will also perform the music of internationally-acclaimed composer Julian Yu, one of the first composers to have introduced Western avant-garde compositional techniques to China in the early 1980s. Much of Yu’s music has a distinctive contemporary sound. This concert features a more recent trend of his, where he incorporates the ancient Chinese practice of ornamenting a melody (similar to jazz improvisation) in his compositional approach and infuses popular Western art music with Chinese idioms.
 
The aim of Bridges Collective is to give Australian audiences the opportunity to hear composers that have expressed their multicultural experiences and journeys through creative works. Wee says:

“Australia is becoming ever more cosmopolitan as it continues to open its doors to migrants, students and visitors from all around the world; and the impact of the myriad influences is percolating through the art and musical world. Our music programming aims to reflect this growing phenomenon.” 

Artists

Brenna Wee, piano
Mindy Meng Wang, guzheng (Chinese zither)
Taryn Richards, flute

Program

•    Lou Shu Hua: Return of the Fishing Boat at Dusk (渔舟唱晚) – arranged Julian Yu (flute / guzheng)
•    Plum Blossom (梅花三弄) – an ancient song arranged by Wang Jian Zhong  (flute / piano)
•    Along the Liuyang River (浏阳河) – a folk song arranged by Wang Jian Zhong (solo piano)
•    Julian Yu: Great Gate of Kiev (fr Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition arr koto and string quintet); arr B Wee (guzheng / piano)
•    Cheng Gong Liang: By the Yili River (伊犁河畔) (guzheng / hand drum)
•    Julian Yu: Canon (based on Pachelbel’s Canon) (flute / piano / guzheng)
•    He Zhan Hao: Eternal Sorrow of Lin An (临安遗恨) (guzheng / piano)

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on 0407 934 810 or by email to info@bridgescollective.com

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Performer Brenna Wee
• Performer Mindy Meng Wang
• Performer Taryn Richards